It's been a while since I wrote a "what happens next post" and I've had a few questions, so I thought it would be easiest to just answer them here all at once!
We have a court date on April 9. Lucky for us our attorney in "B" gets to go in our place. After court we will wait seven days for the adoption to be finalized. At that point our attorney gets to apply for some (more) paper work and we get our travel dates. Usually travel dates are anywhere from 3-5 weeks from then. Plane tickets can't be purchased until that point, so we fully expect to pay a premium price for this trip. Spring and summer is the most expensive time to travel to Europe! We are praying that we will get to leave sometime at the very beginning of May to bring our boy home.
Wes and I will both be traveling to pick our son up. Typically families arrive into country on Saturday, and then on Sunday drive to the village where the orphanage is. Monday is "gotcha" day and we will race back to the capital city to apply for his passport. It's important we get this done as quickly as possible so that it's ready for us to leave the following Saturday. Other things we will complete the week in "B" include a trip to the US Embassy and a doctor's appointment so he is medically cleared to enter the US. We will leave very early Saturday morning to fly roughly 24 hours back home. With a 4 year old. Who has probably never seen an airplane, much less been on one....or three.
Wonder what happens in the next few weeks? We spend pretty much all of our free time finishing getting ready for a 4 year old to live with us. Doing laundry, packing, take a bunch out, and then repacking. We will both be taking a little time off from work after we get home, so we will also be scheduling some doctor's appointments for our boy, as well as getting something set up with the local school district so he can begin to receive therapy as soon as possible.
The other things that we are working on include collecting a few more toys for the orphanage, and raising funds to donate for the roof. As of right now we are over $600 in donations (including the case donations and chipin totals)! Thank you!
We appreciate the continued prayers on our behalf, we feel like we are finally in the home stretch!
Showing posts with label timeline. Show all posts
Showing posts with label timeline. Show all posts
Friday, March 30, 2012
Friday, October 21, 2011
and now we wait!
I have struggled this week, wondering what I will blog about until we know more about our time line. Most likely it will be a pile of random rants! Hope you stick with us during this period of waiting!
Here is what I do know: our dossier is in country! Thank you to our bank/insurance company offering their members the ability to get discounts at FedEX. It cost just over $100 to send that precious package to where it needed to be. Dollars very well spent in my opinion since I shipped it on Thursday and it arrived on Monday as promised. Currently (I have been told) it's in the process of being translated to a language with a completely different alphabet than English uses. Thank GOD for people who are smart enough to not only be bilingual, but also bi-alphabetical. {Huh! That must actually be a word, b/c my computer didn't mark it as being mis-spelled!} Once translation is complete it will be submitted and we will receive a verbal referral to meet Danny. As soon as I know when that is I promise to let you know! Praying for early January. Also praying for less expensive airfare than I am currently seeing for the week I think we might travel.
In the mean-time we are both working like crazy and saving as much money as we can so that we are prepared for our next sets of payments to the agency and airline.
That's about it for now. I hope to be back in 2-3 weeks with more exciting news. Keep looking for Sunday Prayers updates, we will always have something on our list that requires blessing!
Here is what I do know: our dossier is in country! Thank you to our bank/insurance company offering their members the ability to get discounts at FedEX. It cost just over $100 to send that precious package to where it needed to be. Dollars very well spent in my opinion since I shipped it on Thursday and it arrived on Monday as promised. Currently (I have been told) it's in the process of being translated to a language with a completely different alphabet than English uses. Thank GOD for people who are smart enough to not only be bilingual, but also bi-alphabetical. {Huh! That must actually be a word, b/c my computer didn't mark it as being mis-spelled!} Once translation is complete it will be submitted and we will receive a verbal referral to meet Danny. As soon as I know when that is I promise to let you know! Praying for early January. Also praying for less expensive airfare than I am currently seeing for the week I think we might travel.
In the mean-time we are both working like crazy and saving as much money as we can so that we are prepared for our next sets of payments to the agency and airline.
That's about it for now. I hope to be back in 2-3 weeks with more exciting news. Keep looking for Sunday Prayers updates, we will always have something on our list that requires blessing!
Thursday, October 13, 2011
five star day!
Today didn't start out so great. I got home late last night from visiting Wes and was very keyed up. Caught up on my blogs, read some emails....didn't fall asleep until after midnight. Very unusual for me. Then this morning I was AWAKE (I mean wide awake) before 5am. Really thought it was going to be a long day....and then I went to put the dogs in their kennels and heard it. Drip. Drip. Drip. The bathroom vent was leaking! Called Wes. No answer. Called Dad....he's coming later. As of right now (2:30pm) it isn't dripping, but there is a new quarter sized hole in the ceiling where it soaked through. Fantastic!
Here is where it gets GREAT! I drove to Austin, no major hiccups! Got to talk to a sweet friend who I have been playing phone tag with. I found a parking place, and had just enough change in my car to pay for an hour and 15 minutes on the meter. Walked right in, no waiting! The lady who does the apostilles for Texas is so sweet. She wants to see pictures, ask questions, hear about what the next steps are. So we are talking and another couple come in. They hear our story, and are congratulatory. Then! Another group comes in. The lady is familiar. It's Shelley Burman! Carrington's mom! The Burman's have adopted twice now, multiple kids each time. I admire the Burman's faith and courage in continuing to follow God's directions....they are adopting again! A sweet little guy from the same country Danny is in! Please keep them in your prayers.
Next great thing: I got a text message from Stephanie Barnett....they have scheduled their flights home, with all 3 kids! The Barnett 7 will be together for the first time at 9:15 Wednesday night. I promise to take as many pictures as I can and share them next week!
Final absolutely fantastic thing! Remember Vilis and Juris? Rumor has it they will both be making their way to the "New Commitments" page on Reece's Rainbow very very soon! The best part of this story is that we understand that they are best friends in their orphanage....and their new home is big enough and full of enough love for BOTH of them!
So, needless to say, while today may not have started out so great it is truly a day God made for rejoicing!
I always seem to have a prayer request, so here it is: when we sent our USCIS application in we invited friends over and prayed over it. It made a world of difference, since our approval came in 1/2 the time we expected it to take! The next few days are super crazy, and we want to get it there so translation can begin...so we are asking for our dossier to be surrounded in prayers for the next two weeks. I am going to create a facebook event and send reminders and specific requests that way. Will you please join us?
Thank you so much for your support and prayers and dedicated reading so far! As far as I can tell we are officially at the half way point in our adoption of our son. It's been an amazing ride, and I know we have only been on the uphill climb....now the roller coaster really begins twisting and turning!
Here is where it gets GREAT! I drove to Austin, no major hiccups! Got to talk to a sweet friend who I have been playing phone tag with. I found a parking place, and had just enough change in my car to pay for an hour and 15 minutes on the meter. Walked right in, no waiting! The lady who does the apostilles for Texas is so sweet. She wants to see pictures, ask questions, hear about what the next steps are. So we are talking and another couple come in. They hear our story, and are congratulatory. Then! Another group comes in. The lady is familiar. It's Shelley Burman! Carrington's mom! The Burman's have adopted twice now, multiple kids each time. I admire the Burman's faith and courage in continuing to follow God's directions....they are adopting again! A sweet little guy from the same country Danny is in! Please keep them in your prayers.
Next great thing: I got a text message from Stephanie Barnett....they have scheduled their flights home, with all 3 kids! The Barnett 7 will be together for the first time at 9:15 Wednesday night. I promise to take as many pictures as I can and share them next week!
Final absolutely fantastic thing! Remember Vilis and Juris? Rumor has it they will both be making their way to the "New Commitments" page on Reece's Rainbow very very soon! The best part of this story is that we understand that they are best friends in their orphanage....and their new home is big enough and full of enough love for BOTH of them!
So, needless to say, while today may not have started out so great it is truly a day God made for rejoicing!
I always seem to have a prayer request, so here it is: when we sent our USCIS application in we invited friends over and prayed over it. It made a world of difference, since our approval came in 1/2 the time we expected it to take! The next few days are super crazy, and we want to get it there so translation can begin...so we are asking for our dossier to be surrounded in prayers for the next two weeks. I am going to create a facebook event and send reminders and specific requests that way. Will you please join us?
Thank you so much for your support and prayers and dedicated reading so far! As far as I can tell we are officially at the half way point in our adoption of our son. It's been an amazing ride, and I know we have only been on the uphill climb....now the roller coaster really begins twisting and turning!
Friday, September 30, 2011
bye bye September!
When we first began this adoption we were told it was about a 9 month process from start to finish. And of course, thinking we were exceptional people we just knew we could get it done in 6 months. Then our FBI back ground checks took two and a half months. So our homestudy took longer than that. We committed to adopting Danny in April, so September marks the sixth month we have been in this process. Obviously we are not as exceptional as we thought! (PS: I totally wish I was one of those people who kept a list running of specific dates when things happend. It's pretty vague since I'm not that organized.)
After we signed our commitment papers and sent our first checks in we learned that 9 months really isn't typical....12 to 14 months is much more the "norm." So here we are, six months later. This could, God willing, mark the halfway point in our adoption! I can't tell you how excited this makes me! So what happens next for us? Here is a quick outline to keep you up to date:
1. We are waiting on three pieces of mail to reach us. These include a form from our social worker, a form from our local agency who will be performing our follow up home studies, and our Golden Ticket! (The golden ticket is our immigration approval, called such because it's actually printed on gold paper.)
2. Once we receive all three of these items Wes and I have to get everything notarized. When I say everything I mean literally about 50 pieces of paper.
3. After notary we get everything apostilled. This is where it will get a little tricky for us. Since all the items we have from our social worker and local agency are notarized in Texas they must be apostilled in TX. I'm totally down with that, because there is an awesome outlet mall on the way to Austin! The tricky part is that since Wes is in Connecticut we are planning to do all of our signing in front of a notary there...and all those forms will have to be apostilled in CT! Here in TX you can sit and wait and talk to a very nice lady while she takes care of the apostille for you. In CT you can't. You must either mail them in or drop them off, but you can't wait for them to be completed. If you can't come back in person in a few days then they will mail them to you.
4. Once all the fun of step 3 is complete we will then ship our entire dossier (packet of required documents) to Danny's country!
5. Someone will translate all of these pages into a language much like Russian, complete with crazy alphabet.
6. Our dossier will be submitted to the Ministry of Justice of Danny's Country.....THEN....
7. We get a referral to go meet him! (This is the most exciting step so far!)
8. We travel to meet him...when? I'm not sure yet, but something in my heart says we won't be here for Thanksgiving, and yet will be so thankful!
9. Mail more documents
10. Court
11. Bring my boy home!
We are hoping and praying to have steps 1-4 completed by October 14th and ship our dossier out for delivery early the following week. I know this still feels like so much (believe me, it does!) but I also feel like we are on the home stretch at this point. We are both so thrilled to think that we could be meeting our son in just a few weeks! Think about it, Thanksgiving is only 8 weeks away!
Will you please pray that our final missing documents reach us this weekend, and that I have safe travels in getting everything finalized and ready to go, and also when I see Wes in a week. Please also keep our sweet social worker in your prayers. She does good work helping families like us get ready to adopt, and she is constantly under attack by evil.
Finally, will you also do the happy dance that our USCIS approval seems to be coming back in record time!
After we signed our commitment papers and sent our first checks in we learned that 9 months really isn't typical....12 to 14 months is much more the "norm." So here we are, six months later. This could, God willing, mark the halfway point in our adoption! I can't tell you how excited this makes me! So what happens next for us? Here is a quick outline to keep you up to date:
1. We are waiting on three pieces of mail to reach us. These include a form from our social worker, a form from our local agency who will be performing our follow up home studies, and our Golden Ticket! (The golden ticket is our immigration approval, called such because it's actually printed on gold paper.)
2. Once we receive all three of these items Wes and I have to get everything notarized. When I say everything I mean literally about 50 pieces of paper.
3. After notary we get everything apostilled. This is where it will get a little tricky for us. Since all the items we have from our social worker and local agency are notarized in Texas they must be apostilled in TX. I'm totally down with that, because there is an awesome outlet mall on the way to Austin! The tricky part is that since Wes is in Connecticut we are planning to do all of our signing in front of a notary there...and all those forms will have to be apostilled in CT! Here in TX you can sit and wait and talk to a very nice lady while she takes care of the apostille for you. In CT you can't. You must either mail them in or drop them off, but you can't wait for them to be completed. If you can't come back in person in a few days then they will mail them to you.
4. Once all the fun of step 3 is complete we will then ship our entire dossier (packet of required documents) to Danny's country!
5. Someone will translate all of these pages into a language much like Russian, complete with crazy alphabet.
6. Our dossier will be submitted to the Ministry of Justice of Danny's Country.....THEN....
7. We get a referral to go meet him! (This is the most exciting step so far!)
8. We travel to meet him...when? I'm not sure yet, but something in my heart says we won't be here for Thanksgiving, and yet will be so thankful!
9. Mail more documents
10. Court
11. Bring my boy home!
We are hoping and praying to have steps 1-4 completed by October 14th and ship our dossier out for delivery early the following week. I know this still feels like so much (believe me, it does!) but I also feel like we are on the home stretch at this point. We are both so thrilled to think that we could be meeting our son in just a few weeks! Think about it, Thanksgiving is only 8 weeks away!
Will you please pray that our final missing documents reach us this weekend, and that I have safe travels in getting everything finalized and ready to go, and also when I see Wes in a week. Please also keep our sweet social worker in your prayers. She does good work helping families like us get ready to adopt, and she is constantly under attack by evil.
Finally, will you also do the happy dance that our USCIS approval seems to be coming back in record time!
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